The whole of Russia remembers the days of April 19–21, when
civil war was about to break out in the streets of Petrograd.

On April 21 the Provisional Government penned a new reassuring
missive[1]
purporting to “explain” its predatory Note of the 18th.

After this the majority of the Executive Committee of the Soviet
of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies decided to consider the
“incident settled”.

Another couple of days passed, and the question of a coalition
cabinet cropped up. The Executive Committee was almost
equally divided: 23 against a coalition cabinet, 22 for it. The
incident had been “settled” only on paper.

Two more days passed, and we now have another “incident”. War
Minister Guchkov, one of the leaders of the Provisional
Government, has resigned. There is talk of the whole Provisional
Government having decided to resign. (At the time of writing, we
still do not know for certain whether the government has
resigned.) A new “incident” has occurred one that throws all
previous “incidents” into the shade.

Whence this spate of “incidents”? Is there no root cause which
inevitably engenders “incident” upon “incident”?

Thereis such a cause. It is what we know as the dual
power, that state of unstable equilibrium resulting from the
agreement between the Soviet and the Provisional Government.

The Provisional Government is a government of the
capitalists. It cannot give up its dreams of conquests
(annexations), it cannot end the predatory war by a democratic
peace, it cannot but protect the profits of its own class (the
capitalist
class), it cannot but protect the estates of the
land owners.

The Soviet represents other classes. Most of the workers and
soldiers in the Soviet do not want this predatory war, they are
not interested in the profits of the capitalists or in
preserving the privileges of the landowners. At the same time,
however, they still have faith in the Provisional Government of
the capitalists, they are for having agreements with it, for
keeping in contact with it.

The Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies are them selves a
government in embryo. On some questions they attempt to exercise
power parallel with the Provisional Government. We thus have an
overlapping of power, or, as it is now called, a “crisis of
power”.

This cannot go on for long. Such a state of affairs is bound
every day to cause new “incidents” and fresh complications. It
is easy enough to inscribe on a bit of paper “the incident is
settled”. In real life, however, these incidents do not
disappear. And this for the simple reason that they are not
“incidents” at all, they are not chance happenings, not
trifles. They are the outward signs of a deep-rooted inner
crisis. They are a result of the impasse in which humanity now
finds itself. There can be no way out of this predatory war
unless we accept the measures proposed by the internationalist
socialists.

The Russian people are offered three ways of ending this “crisis
of power”. Some say: Leave things as they are, put still
greater trust in the Provisional Government. The threat to
resign may be a trick calculated to make the Soviet say: We
trust you still more. The Provisional Government wants the
Soviet to beg it: Come and rule over us; what shall we do
without you....

Others propose a coalition cabinet. Let us share the
ministerial portfolios with Milyukov and Co., they say, let us
get some of our own people into the cabinet; it will be quite
another pair of shoes then.

We propose a third way: A complete change of the Soviets’
policy, no confidence in the capitalists, and the transfer
of all power to the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’
Deputies. A change of personalities will give
nothing; the whole policy must be changed. Another
class must assume power.
A government of workers and soldiers would be trusted by the
whole world, for everyone knows that a worker and a poor peasant
would want to rob no one. Only this can put a speedy end to the
war, only this can help us through the economic debacle.

All power to the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies!
No confidence in the government the capitalists!

Every “incident”, every day, every hour will confirm the
soundness of this watchword.